


Der Grossman

by Wrenegade



Category: Slender Man Mythos
Genre: Creepy, Drabble, Horror, Scary, Short Story, Slenderman - Freeform, idk i posted this like two years ago and i just found it again haha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-20
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-08-10 01:02:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7824082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wrenegade/pseuds/Wrenegade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You go into the forest. You think it'll be fun. You think you'll be fine. But you're not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Der Grossman

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not entirely sure what persuaded me into posting this again. Have a blast from the past, 2014-style. This has been edited, so I hope it's a lot better than it was years ago. 
> 
> My apologizes for the spacing. I'm on mobile, but it'll get fixed soon.

 

“Another body has been found in the area. Police are investigating, but residents are warned to---” The news reporter says before the television turns off, leaving me with a black screen in which I can see my own sour-faced reflection.

 

“Hey!” I stand up to see the figure of my older brother, yawning.

 

“You’re too young to be watching this sort of thing, sport. Go to school or something,” he states, swiping the remote as I groan in indignation. For a moment he sighs, face lowered in a tired resignation as he holds his head in his hands.

 

“It’s Sunday afternoon,” I protest, balling my fists in what probably was misplaced anger. He waves his hand for me to go away, blatantly ignoring me as the television turns to hockey.

 

The Flyers are winning- not like I care. Sometimes I feel as though he only picked rural Pennsylvania to run away to this time so I'd be effectively bored to death.

 

_"It's a new start," he'd said after practically throwing my suitcase at me and peeling off his snow-soaked funeral clothes after my parents were laid to rest._

_"Its a new start," he'd say again, not even 3 months later, bursting through the door and almost shouting, "We need to leave."_

_"Its a new start," he'd said, the bags under his eyes and clipped tone betraying his goofy nature. "We'll be safe now."_

 

I wasn't sure what that meant.

 

After hours of complete boredom, I figure the snow has let up enough to the point where I can execute the plan I've been waiting for, requiring me to cut through the woods. My plan for freedom reminds me of the first town, the one I was so content roaming the woods with my rebellious friends in. 

-

_"Fuck, dude, are you stupid?" I bumped shoulders wit_ _h a friend, who shrugged in response while kicking a rock in his path._

_My eyes swept the area of the clearing, lightning bugs making the trees look like Christmas trees, the night making it ten times creepier._

_"You know there's been rumors. Like, wouldn't it be a perfect dumping site for like... serial killers or some shit?"_

_"You idiot. Who'd dump someone in the woods behind a fucking elementary school?"_

_Another friend had chimed in, sweeping his hands across the small space of woods as to describe the possibilities with one gesture. "Teenagers fuck here, pedophiles watch teenagers fuck here--- hey, did you hear about that hobo living around here too?"_

_"Shut up."_

_That was a good night._

-

Not being a particularly scared person, I was surprised at the unfamiliar churn of my stomach as I nearly snuck out the door. My mind echoed the words of the newscaster earlier today;  _Another body has been found in the area._

 

 _No_ , my mind argues. _The woods here are exactly like the stupid ones by the elementary school. I'll be fine, and I'll be free. No more moving around every other goddamn month._ I repeat this in my mind until I am certain that I believe it, giving an almost guilty glance at my napping brother before I walked out. I refuse to let my guilt eat me, but if I'm forced to stay cooped up for one more day, I--- 

 

I just need some fresh air.

 

My brother was the only person that could take care of me when the incident happened. I still remember, but I shake that memory and will myself to move, despite my body freezing in protest. I will myself forward and take my first step into the woods, actually dwarfing in comparison to the ones at home. This is the time when my mind reminds me of all the creatures that dwell there, and to the second place I called home.

 

-

I scratched my arm, the redness spreading to the elbow.

 

"You owe me. Why the hell did you push me into the poison ivy?"

 

Quiet. 

"Dude-- c'mon. The silent treatment is so immature. Where the hell are you?"

 

Rustling.

 

"C'mooon! I can here y---"

 

Screaming. Bleeding. Blackness.

 

"A local teen had been murdered in the woods by what is suspected to be a wild fox. Police are on the scene now."

 

-

 

My mind urges me to stop. Instead of focusing on my thoughts, I whistle. The birds usually respond, but this time it is unusually quiet, fueling my fears. My heart is pounding, and I feel like I'm about to lose whatever lunch I ate.. I step quietly forward and break into a run, stepping on twigs and leaves as I do so. My heart is pounding through my chest, and my ears are ringing. The birds still fail to whistle, all frozen in what it seems to be a state of terror. The bugs aren't afraid though, stuck in their own little world on the ground.

 

I'm overreacting.

 

Ants scuttle over my sneakers, but I refuse to whine about it. I prefer that the rest of the forest not know I was taking refuge in their home, wanting to get out as soon as possible. All I can hear is my heart beating and my chest moving up and down with each breath. I can feel myself taking small shallow breaths and start quietly crying, thinking of the home that feels like everything but. 

 

I wipe my eyes and continue to walk, trying to think about happy things, but I fail. The sudden fear scares me half to death, and my mind races with possibilities. Suddenly, I hear a noise. It sounds like wind, but sends a chill up my spine, causing me to run faster than I ever thought I could go.

 

It was wind. It was just wind. Wasn't it?

 

I am breathing heavy and don’t care what twigs and sticks I step on. My mind is jumping to conclusions, but the ominous sound scares me nonetheless, and I want to get away from it as quick as possible. I hear the noise again and see a shadow in front of me.

 

Was I wrong?

 

I force myself to look up. The figure is long and slender, so long and slender in fact that it seems to challenge the trees to see who is taller. The wind comes again and I am frozen in fear, no matter what I can come up with to rationalize this. I realize far too late, though, it is not wind. It's someone’s breath on my neck. 

 

-

 

We can't-- we can't talk about this again. You wouldn't... You wouldn't get it," he seethes, crumpling the piece of paper in his hand.

 

"Don't you get it?" My voice was raw from screaming, his melancholy from exhaustion. "I'm so confused! Are you a murderer or something? Is that why we have to change our names, steal, lie, and move all over the goddamn globe? Do you really expect me to believe it's because of something our parents got into--- would they really do something like that?"

 

He looked up, eyes raw and face defeated. 

"You're the one that doesn't get it. And I hope to god you never will."  
-

 

I squeeze my eyes shut and run faster than I have ever run in my whole life at the resurfacing of the memory, a stream of tears running down my face. I wipe my nose with my shirt and look around, finding a tree and hanging onto its trunk, crying into it. The moment is short-lived, because I hear the noise again and run.

 

My pack slips off my back but I don’t care. I'm mortified and I think I'll never stop running. Even though my feet are hurting me, I keep running, trying to regulate my breathing. Who could this be? Or what could this be? And why do they want _me_? 

 

I keep running and I feel a pain in my stomach and my legs. I’ve been running too long but I can't stop now, not ever. I don't even care if I have to go back to that hellhole of a cabin, my third home that feels like a prison. I trip on a branch and lose my footing, falling on my back and trying to scuttle back to my feet, but I cannot.

 

The figure is standing above me, watching me with interest-well, I assume they would if they had features. Its ugly sockets are hallowed, mouth appearing to be sewn shut, and no nose. A shaow casts on the figure’s face, or lack thereof, making it more terrifying. It’s lanky and tall, and hunches over to watch me intently. Oddly enough, it’s wearing a suit, a nice tuxedo that a man would wear to a formal occasion. Its hands don’t look like they had any skin on them, and they are long and bony, as well as his arms and legs. I look at his hands once more, and realize that they were clutching my pack. I don't reach out and grab it from him. I do not run. I do not do anything. I just stare in horror at the creature in front of me, hunched back showing each vertebrae through its suit, each bone making it of an impossible height, and the glint of fresh viscera donning its pants. I notice one more thing in that glance, something that I knew would seal my fate. An achingly familiar tv remote lying at its feet, covered in blood. 

-

The creature set my pack down beside me and before I know it he has me in his hands, scratching at me, ripping me, hungrily tearing at my skin. I scream and scream and scream, praying for my life, my brothers, and just wondering why. But then, I hopelessly realize two things as my life light flickers.

 

I will die, and I know what my brother was running from.

 

You think you are alone. You know you are alone. You are certain you are alone. But there is always a small chance... That you are not.


End file.
